$1M lottery winner died of cyanide poisoning

Jan. 8, 2013
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This undated photo provided by the Illinois Lottery shows Urooj Khan, 46, of Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, posing with a winning lottery ticket. The Cook County medical examiner said Monday that Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide last summer, a day after he collected nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings. / Illinois Lottery

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

The Cook County medical examiner in Chicago has concluded that the winner of a $1 million instant lottery died of cyanide poisoning one day after collecting his winnings, rather than by natural causes as originally ruled.

Urooj Khan, 46, from Chicago's North Side, literally jumped for joy last June after realizing that the second of two instant tickets he had bought for $60 at a local 7-Eleven was worth $1 million.

A month later, he was back at the store, with his wife and teenager daughter by his side, to collect $425,000 in post-tax winnings.At the time, he said he planned to use the money to grow his dry-cleaning business, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The next day, he was found dead.

Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina said the death was ruled from natural causes -- hardening of the arteries -- after a limited exam initially found no trauma nor unusual substances in his blood. He was buried at Rosehill Cemetery.

Then Cina got a call from a relative asking for a deeper investigation.

The caller said, "There may be more to it than a natural death, and they asked us to look into it further," Cina said, refusing to provide more details, according to the Tribune.

A full toxicology test revealed Khan had ingested a deadly amount of cyanide.

"For now, the death certificate says cyanide toxicity and the manner of death says homicide," Cina said, the Sun-Times reported.

Cina said Monday that it's likely that Khan's body will be exhumed as part of the investigation into his death.

Khan, a native of India, arrived in Chicago in the 1980s, saved his money and eventually opened three dry cleaning shops.

The Tribune reported that Khan's 32-year-old widow, Shabana Ansari, declined to talk with its reporter recently about the investigation, except to say that she had talked to police.

She praised her husband of 12 year as "extraordinary, nice, kind and lovable," telling the newspaper that he was "the best husband on the entire planet."